Looking for some strong opinions? Here’s Oldnotdead with a few…

Here’s Oldnotdead…

The Rams aren't stupid when it comes to their cap management. They just signed Wagner to that $50M contract last year. They knew what their cap was going to be at this time of the year in September of last year. They obviously have had a plan to manage it all along.

The difference is that in September of last year Mayfield wasn't in the picture and Stafford was healthy. My son has a spinal contusion that the doc said is much like that of Stafford. He actually said that to my son and I. He told my son it would be almost a full year before it healed and to avoid contact sports for most of that year. As a corpsman during the Vietnam War I saw a lot of spinal contusions and most took at least 10 - 12 months to heal. Stafford suffered from tendonitis in his elbow and it was very obvious it affected his deep throwing accuracy. Look at all the under and over throws last year while he nursed that elbow. That is going to be a chronic condition that will require them to have him on a throw count during camps. Why do you think I keep saying QB2 is a huge need this year.

Mayfield is with out a doubt their best option if they are serious this year and in the future. He will cost them around $5M as a backup. I sincerely hope this is the reason they have cut ties with Wagner. After the outstanding season Wagner had last year there has to be a real big reason why they would release him and I hope it's to sign Mayfield.

The only reason Mayfield would pass on a starting position elsewhere is that Snead and McVay want him as a starter in 2024. It would be the best move, in the long run. Stafford may not like it but he wasn't going to be here in 2026 anyway and he's got his ring with a real opportunity to get a second ring. This will free up pick 36 for an edge. Pick 69 will likely be an ILB or TE.

McVay doesn't like waiting to develop rookie QBs and as it showed with Goff, Sean wants a QB of his choice. The way he gushed about Mayfield when he was signed and afterward you could see that Baker was a QB he wanted. Baker is IMO a Goff equivalent in terms of physical talent. He proved me wrong, he's not another Murray. Clearly he's worked hard to learn to be a pocket passer not just an RPO QB. The Rams got Mayfield for nothing. They had 5 games as a trial run and he won 2 of those games with a trash OL and one starting WR. Clearly, with a healthy team around him Baker is good enough to be a Super Bowl QB. Mayfield would stay because he can see the tremendous talent around him and this would be his best chance at SB rings.

That's why I hope they were clearing cap for Mayfield. So now they will execute the plan they made a year ago to get under the cap. When you look at the FA list of the Rams, the guys like A'Shawn Robinson, Hill, and Rapp cover the deficit. The guys that they are likey to re-sign off the FA list are fewer than those they will allow to walk giving them the clearance they need to sign their draft class. Mayfield was the largest contract on the FA list so it would seem that perhaps they needed the $5M from Wagner's contract to sign Mayfield. If it's a tradeoff between Mayfield vs Wagner I think it's a good one.